Tag Archives: Diane Sawyer

In an interview with Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus on MSNBC’sThe Daily Rundownon Thursday, host and incoming Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd proposed a cause for the GOP’s difficulty in attracting women voters: “…do the arguments about contraception end up…putting the party on mute with those same women voters who may like your economic proposals but say, ‘You know what? There’s just too many crazy white guys who have crazy theories about my reproductive system and I’m not listening.'” Priebus rejected the notion: “No, I don’t think that’s the case at all.” Todd continued, this time imagining the thoughts of Hispanic voters: “And Hispanics, same thing. Hispanics who maybe on some social issues would be with you, but the immigration talk says, ‘You know what? I can’t trust because they’ve got a whole bunch of crazy guys that talk crazy on immigration.’ Isn’t that an issue?”

Appearing on MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Reportson Thursday afternoon, Jeanne Cummings, Deputy Managing Editor for Bloomberg News, decided to attack the GOP over their supposed problem with female voters. The Bloomberg reporter argued that the GOP has “moved the abortion debate into birth control. This is a huge step where women — that’s a threshold issue for women. That’s about birth control, controlling your life. This is being in control of your life. And they want to talk about taking that away? That’s a whole different conversation than abortion.”

To close out his MSNBC show on Thursday, Ed Schultz invited on a Native American social activist to discuss the push by liberals and sympathetic members of the sports media to force the NFL’s Washington Redskins to change their name. In discussing recent supporters of the name in Sarah Palin and former NFL coach and player Mike Ditka, author and Native American activist Gyasi Ross smeared Ditka for being a “segregation-era football player who became, appropriately, a coach of – of a team – a team – an NFL team that was comprised largely of black players that he could dictate his will to.”

Despite a ThursdayNew York Post report that President Obama’s upcoming Labor Day weekend fundraising junket would shut down airspace across the northeast and hurt business for local pilots, neither NBC’s Today nor ABC’s Good Morning America covered the controversy. CBS This Morning offered a mere 18-second news brief on the topic. This Morning fill-in co-host Vinita Nair informed viewers: “…the FAA is forcing no-fly zones beginning Friday. That includes grounding sea planes from the Hamptons to Nantucket. One company says it is a major hit on their busiest weekend of the year.”

As reported on Tuesday night, two of the three major broadcast networks covered a new report from the Office of the Inspector General at the Department of Veterans Affairs on the scandal-ridden agency and its Phoenix VA hospital that led to a nationwide investigation of delayed wait times and secret waiting lists. While the coverage was mixed with ABC’s World News with Diane Sawyer completely omitting the story, the coverage in print and online sources such as Politico, the Associated Press, and The Washington Post completely missed the boat.

World News anchor and long-time ABC journalist Diane Sawyer signed off for the last time on Wednesday night. The host’s final show included a music montage as she offered a behind the scenes look at how the program is created. Sawyer praised World News as “the flagship broadcast of ABC where Peter Jennings created a signature of such curiosity and courage.” Talking to viewers, Sawyer said of the people behind her show: “Determination and the certainty of purpose: They’re doing it for you.” Sawyer joined ABC in 1989 and if there’s been one constant during her long career, it’s been fawning, credulous reporting on dictators.

In just two days, the three network morning and evening shows deluged viewers with over 25 minutes of coverage (17 stories) on the indictment of Texas Governor Rick Perry. These programs made sure to speculate as to whether the controversy could “end any chance” for the Republican in 2016. The indictment came after Perry lobbied for Texas District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg to resign after her drunk driving conviction. From Saturday morning through Monday morning, CBS offered the most amount of coverage, five stories over nine minutes and 14 seconds. Over the same period, ABC produced six segments (or eight minutes and 48 seconds). NBC delivered six segments for of seven minutes and 37 seconds.

In the wake of the “big three” networks (ABC, CBS, NBC) devoting 25 minutes to the indictment of Governor Rick Perry (R-TX) in the story’s first two days, ABC’s World News with Diane Sawyer continued the network obsession with the potential 2016 presidential candidate. On Monday, August 18, anchor Diane Sawyer introduced a report on Perry by proclaiming “back here at home to Texas and a kind of high noon for Texas Governor Rick Perry facing indictment, but defiant again today.” Jim Avila did his best to discredit the governor’s argument: “Perry’s defense team played the tape again for reporters today and on radio late this afternoon the governor vowed to expose what he calls a political farce despite the fact that both the judge who appointed the special prosecutor and the special prosecutor himself are Bush appointed Republicans.”

On Monday’s Morning Joe on MSNBC, MSNBC contributor and Managing Editor of Bloomberg Politics Mark Halperin slammed the indictment of Texas Governor Rick Perry (R) by an Austin, Texas-area grand jury for threatening to veto funding for a Democratic District Attorney’s public integrity unit after she was convicted of a DUI as “the stupidest thing I’ve seen, I think, in my entire career.” Expanding further on his opinion, Halperin added: “I hope some judge throws it out right away. It’s not just kind of funny and ridiculous, but it’s an infringement on individual liberty. He’s got a First Amendment right just cause he’s governor of Texas and I think it’s – like you said, it’s easy to joke about this, but this is a serious thing. It is ridiculous that he was indicted for this. Ridiculous.”

On Sunday’sReliable Sources on CNN, Dr. Gail Saltz blasted Fox News contributor Dr. Keith Ablow for his jab at Michelle Obama’s weight: “To be criticizing people, kind of, willy-nilly is – I don’t think meets the Hippocratic Oath.” She played up how Dr. Ablow previously hinted that Vice President Biden might have dementia, and claimed that the psychiatrist violated “American psychiatric guidelines, which is not to diagnose someone that you have never met.”

“The President who came into office speaking in lofty terms about bipartisanship and cooperation can only cement his legacy if he destroys the GOP. If he wants to transform American politics, he must go for the throat….Obama’s only remaining option is to pulverize. Whether he succeeds in passing legislation or not, given his ambitions, his goal should be to delegitimize his opponents.”— CBS News political director John Dickerson in a January 18 Slate.com article headlined: “Go for the Throat! Why if he wants to transform American politics, Obama must declare war on the Republican Party.”

“The Second Coming. America Expects. Can He Deliver?”— Headline for Newsweek’s “Inauguration 2013” cover, January 18.

Admiring Liberal “President with a Purpose”

“He is a president renewed in office by the votes of 65 million Americans. He is a president with a purpose….Change — this time around that word means something else to Barack Obama. He used his second inauguration to make an audacious claim that the coalition that reelected him — younger, more diverse, non-native, more socially liberal — is the next America, the rising generation, and he spoke directly to and for them….A man, a president with a purpose and an agenda, a progressive agenda, no question about it.”— Co-anchor Terry Moran on ABC’s Nightline, January 21.

“And as we’ve said, here in Washington the excitement is already beginning. Those marching bands getting ready for their parade, the caterers, 10,000 eggs for one hotel. And the whole city has a smile on its face.”— Anchor Diane Sawyer talking about Obama’s inauguration during a live special report, January 20.

Correspondent Bill Weir to teenager waiting for Obama’s inauguration: “Any regrets thus far?”Sean Semler: “Not at all. Not at all. We got a little bit of sleep, but that’s enough.”Weir: “Yeah. History is keeping you warm, right?”Semler: “Yeah.”Weir: “Outstanding.”— Exchange during ABC News live coverage, January 21. [MP3 audio (0:45)]

New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd: “About five years from now, you guys are going to be here and you’re going to be discussing Obama’s memoir, which he will have written, and it’s going to be the most brilliant political memoir outside of Ulysses Grant, and Joe, you’re going to be saying-”Co-host Mika Brzezinski: “Now, that’s love!”Dowd: “Yeah. And you’re going be saying, ‘We still don’t, we’re still trying to figure out who this guy is. And he has these amazing insights. Why couldn’t he have applied that super-brain to Washington and gotten it to work better?’”— Exchange on MSNBC’s Morning Joe on January 21.

Drooling Over 60 Minutes “Lovefest”

“Lovefest. The President and Hillary Clinton in a revealing and rare joint interview, has everyone reading the tea leaves.”— Fill-in host Elizabeth Vargas on ABC’s Good Morning America, January 28.

“Fairness” = Don’t Make Obama Look Bad

Host Piers Morgan: “Let me ask you at the top, why do you think he [President Obama] keeps coming to you?…”CBS’s Steve Kroft: “I think that, first of all, I think he likes 60 Minutes….But I think it’s a question of fairness. I, we have not — I think he knows that we’re not going to play gotcha with him, that we’re not going to go out of our way to make him look bad or stupid, and we’ll let him answer the questions.”— CNN’s Piers Morgan Tonight, January 28.

“If, in the course of the next couple years it appears, as it does appear right now, that you might be the person who could actually break through that glass ceiling and become the first female president of this country, would you feel a certain obligation to seize that mantle?…But there’s never been a woman who really had a credible chance. And it looks as if you might just be that person.”— Co-anchor Cynthia McFadden to Hillary Clinton in an interview shown on ABC’s Nightline, January 29. [MP3 audio (0:46)]

Applauding Hillary’s “Stellar Term” at Foggy Bottom

“It will be a grueling day, first in the Senate, then in the House. Not how the Secretary of State had planned to wind up what is widely viewed as a stellar term as the nation’s top diplomat.”— Andrea Mitchell on NBC’s Today, January 23, previewing Hillary Clinton’s testimony on Benghazi.

Riveted by “Charming” Hillary’s “Fiery Emotion”

“Last stand. Secretary Hillary Clinton, filled with fiery emotion in her last appearance before Congress….The indignation. And then, the tears in her eyes….It was a valedictory that showed her indignation and emotion as she ends this tenure on the public stage.”— Anchor Diane Sawyer opening ABC’s World News, January 23.

“It was truly a riveting day on Capitol Hill. We don’t say that very often, with Secretary Clinton as some have never seen her before. She was at times, combative, charming, disarming and clearly ready for a fight.”— ABC correspondent Martha Raddatz on Good Morning America, January 24.

“After a fall, a concussion and a blood clot, Hillary Clinton showed rare public emotion, reflecting the toll Benghazi has taken on her….Parrying hostile questions all day, Clinton was also the political pro. Massaging big egos, sidestepping attacks when she could. When she couldn’t, giving as good as she got.”— NBC chief foreign affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell on the January 23 Nightly News.

Magnificent Hillary vs. Misogynistic Cave Dwellers

“I’m getting a little bit weary, I’ll be honest with you, with the relentless attacks first on Susan Rice and now on Hillary Clinton. There’s a whisper of misogyny to it, I think, and it’s getting pretty, I think, incestuous and very Washington-orientated, rather than in the national interest of America.”— CNN’s Piers Morgan to ex-State Department spokesman PJ Crowley on Piers Morgan Tonight, January 23.

“That was kind of a pissant performance by that guy from Wisconsin [Senator Ron Johnson]….I had the image of these guys [the Republican Senators] going home tonight to caves. I thought they looked like guys who had come, ‘I’m sorry, I’m heading back to my cave where I live.’ The behavior of a couple of these guys like Johnson and [Senator Rand] Paul.”— Hardball host Chris Matthews, January 23.

Clip of Milwaukee Sheriff David Clarke from ad: “Consider taking a certified safety course in handling a firearm so you can defend yourself until we get there. You have a duty to protect yourself and your family. We’re partners now. Can I count on you?”…Correspondent/panelist Nancy Snyderman: “This is so irresponsible, it’s dangerous.”Panelist Star Jones: “I think it’s so irresponsible….”Panelist Donny Deutsch: “Politically, I’m surprised legally they were able to run that ad.”— NBC’s Today, January 30. [MP3 audio (1:04)]

“I think that the NRA still has a stranglehold on a lot of Democrats as well as, as well as Republicans. So it’s going to be hard. But the President can use the extremism of the NRA — who are acting like a bunch of crazies these days — to help sell the rest of his agenda.”— Time’s Joe Klein on The Chris Matthews Show, January 20.

Obama Both a “Racial Pioneer” and a “Religious Pioneer”

“It’s part of what makes Obama exceptional. We think of him as a racial pioneer, the first African-American President, but I think he’s also a religious pioneer. So to have a same-sex marriage, to talk about that in such a public way at the National Cathedral, to also support it as a President — that’s never been done before.”— CNN BeliefBlog writer John Blake on CNN Newsroom, January 22, talking about the President speaking at the traditional post-Inauguration national prayer service.

Classy MSNBC Host: “I Thank God” for Abortion

“This week brought us the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade and made me reflect on a moment from 15 years ago, when I was in a committed relationship with a woman who I knew was just not the one. She also knew it probably wasn’t going to work out, and then she got pregnant, and I was terrified….I thank God and country that when I fell into a bad situation, abortion was there to save me.”— Co-host Touré on MSNBC’s The Cycle, January 25.

Journalists “Swoon” Over Obama

“‘The behavior of the assembled press corps was telling. Everyone, myself included, swooned. Swooned! Head over heels. One or two might have even lost their minds,’ [Buzzfeed’s Michael] Hastings writes, as each reporter had a chance to speak personally with the President. ‘We were all, on some level, deeply obsessed with Obama, crushing hard, still a little love there. This was nerd heaven, a politico’s paradise, the subject himself moving among us — shaking our hands, slapping our shoulders!’”— The Washington Examiner’s Charlie Spiering on January 18, relaying Hastings’ account of a moment when President Obama rubbed shoulders with journalists in an off-the-record event.

Buzzfeed’s Michael Hastings: “The presence of Obama, even on the press corps, even on the people who follow him every day, when they’re near him, they lose their mind sometimes. You know, they start behaving in ways that are juvenile and amateurish. And they swoon.”
Martin Bashir: “And, of course, you don’t.”Hastings: “Oh, I do. No, I do, I do, I do. Oh, I totally, oh, man….”
— Discussing Hastings’ book about the 2012 presidential campaign on MSNBC’s Martin Bashir, January 24.

For instance, according to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports: Crime in the United StatesTable 1, violent crimes in the US have dropped by nearly 50% in the last twenty years. In 1992, there were 757.7 violent crimes per 100,000 people. In 2011, there were only 386.3 violent crimes per 100,000 people. That’s a reduction of 49%.

In the same Table 1, we also see that there were 9.3 homicides per 100,000 people in 1992 and that number dropped to 4.7 homicides per 100,000 in 2011. That’s a reduction of 49.4% in the homicide rate in the past twenty years.

I have a very close friend in the DMPD, who asked that I post this here for him, as he fears reprisals:
“Why is ii ugly statist trolls are always so eager to get us law officers killed for their beliefs? You got another thing coming creep if you think myself or my fellow officers are going to commit suicide by carrying out any such illegal order.
You’d have us trample on essential liberties, and put everything we hold dear at risk.
My kids have to go to school with the people you want me to kick the doors in on. My wife works with the people you want me to gun-down. My house is right next to all the families you’d have me assault – yes I said ASSAULT.
No way. No d*&^ way. These are my neighbors, friends, and family. We work our collective butts off, trying to keep these people safe! You’d have us turn our weapons on them?
I, and most of my fellow officers will not be a party to this. We are PEACE KEEPERS. We are SHEEP-DOGS.
We are not “goons” or “stormtroopers” at the beckon call of some schmuck out to make his name by chasing tragedies.
If you want to disarm the people of Iowa, then you strap on a vest, and take them yourself you authoritarian coward.
In fact if it comes to that, you can have MINE, cause I will quit, and a hell of alot of my comrades will stand right alongside me. Your stupid anti-liberty agenda is not worth my blood, the blood of my fellow officers, or the blood my my family.
Take them yourself.

I work in EMS. No I am no ‘specialist’ I took care of people, now I teach people, I saw people at their worst and best. I treated injuries from many ‘objects’ including gun shots..But dammit, taking guns, legislating guns is NOT going to solve the damn problem and I just hate reading articles like the one here. Some sanctimonious assO..Damn..Get off your effing high horse!! Tell me how TEXAS gun laws would have made any difference on a damn MILITARY base?

Texas: There’s been no effort to tighten gun control in Texas since Army Maj. Nidal Hasan, 39, killed 13 and wounded 32 at a military processing center at Fort Hood in 2009.

In 2011, legislators passed two bills that gave gun carriers greater freedom to take their weapons to more places. One bill restricted employers from prohibiting guns from vehicles in parking areas and another allowed foster parents to carry handguns while transporting their foster children, as long as they are licensed carriers.

During a panel discussion on Tuesday’s NBC Today, chief medical editor Nancy Snyderman voiced her support for a New York newspaper, The Journal News, publishing a list of addresses of local gun owners: “You have these sort of blind assumptions that when your child goes over to play with another kid, he or she is going to be safe. And I think that has been now negated. So I have no problem….we’re not outing child molesters, this is a legal transaction, it’s a public transaction.”Snyderman’s declaration was prompted by fellow panelist, advertising executive Donny Deutsch, also standing by the paper’s controversial action: “I think it’s a great idea, I’ll tell you why. I’ve got two little girls at home and I would like to know if they’re going on a play date in a house where there’s a gun….when you have a gun, you are setting yourself up as somebody different. It’s your choice…”

An Egyptian magazine claims that six American Islamist activists who work with the Obama administration are Muslim Brotherhood operatives who enjoy strong influence over U.S. policy. – by Josh Rossomando
—-
The six named people include:
►Arif Alikhan, assistant secretary of Homeland Security for policy development
►Mohammed Elibiary, a member of the Homeland Security Advisory Council
►Rashad Hussain, the U.S. special envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference
►Salam al-Marayati, co-founder of the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC)
►Imam Mohamed Magid, president of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA)
►Eboo Patel, a member of President Obama’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based Neighborhood Partnerships.

ABC on Tuesday began a multi-show push to promote the gun control crusade of Gabby Giffords and her husband. Good Morning America‘s George Stephanopoulos kicked off the program by trumpeting, ” The most famous face affected by gun violence fights back. Gabby Giffords announcing direct action against gun warfare in America.” (Gun warfare? As of 2012, crime is at a 20 year low in America. The murder rate has dropped by almost half.) More of Diane Sawyer‘s interview with Giffords and her husband Mark Kelly will air on the January 8 World News and Nightline. Giffords, who was grievously injured in a 2011 shooting in Arizona, only uttered two words during the morning segment. Stephanopoulos narrated, explaining that the couple is starting a “campaign for responsible changes to gun laws.” He added that they will be “working with politicians to take high-powered gun lobbyists head-on.”

We have to raise the taxes!! We have to ignore the debt ceiling…But Wait!! Ban the eveel gunz!!!

CNN did its best to promote former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords’ push for stricter gun laws on Tuesday. “And if you think about it, if Gabby Giffords came knocking on my door, office door on Capitol Hill, I would have to let her in,” swooned anchor Carol Costello. Correspondent David Mattingly directed viewers to her website’s fundraising section: “[I]f you go to the website that they’ve set up now, the Americans for Responsible Solutions, the first thing you see there is a big window where you can click on it to donate.”

We have 4 dead in Benghazi, no one claims to know where the survivors disappeared to..well one does. But she has been well, indisposed!! So lets ignore the 4 dead in Benghazi..Have we heard this before?4 dead on O-HI- O maybe?? But the one whom knows is back so lets PARTY and make light of everything else!!

All three network evening newscasts on Monday found time to tout Secretary of State Hillary Clinton‘s return to work after hospitalization for a blood clot, “clearly enjoying a prank gift” from her staff and being greeted by a “standing ovation.” NBC’s Nightly News devoted a full report to the development, with anchor Brian Williams declaring: “…we got our first official look at Secretary of State Hillary Clinton since she emerged from the hospital. It came in the form of some still photos of her first day back at work, a view of her carefully managed by her team after a tough couple of weeks.”